Henderson takes out Roller with fast TKO

Ben Henderson won over Shane Roller in the first round of with an awesome right, followed up with perfect ground and pound to earn him the TKO. With his second win in as many fights, Henderson has established himself as an up-and-comer in the WEC’s lightweight division.

Henderson, who walked in to a gospel version of "Our God is an Awesome God" became a preacher in the cage after the fight, asking for Chicago to give him an, "Amen." Roller, who is still quite young in his career, moves to 2-1 in the WEC. 

Assuncao wins with unanimous decision

In a WEC debut for both fighters, Rafael Assuncao won in a 30-27 unanimous decision over Jameel Massouh. Though Massouh is the more experienced fighter, Assuncao looked more comfortable as the fight wore on. 

In the first round, Massouh knocked down Assuncao quickly twice, and then worked a heel hook in the first round. At the end of the found, Assuncao was the aggressor, knocking down Massouh and trying for a guillotine.

The second round started with a furious exchange of punches, with both fighters landing big blows. The round continued that way, with each fighter taking turns to be the aggressor.  In the third, Assuncao took over the match, taking control on the ground for most of the round. He also landed several punches and kicks throughout the round. 

This moves Assuncao’s record 13-1-0, with his one loss coming to one of WEC 40’s headliners, Jeff Curran. Jameel Massouh drops to 21-5-0. 

Njokuani rounds out preliminary card with a TKO

Anthony Njokuani announced his presence with authority at the final preliminary fight of WEC 40, winning with a TKO over Bart Palaszewski 27 seconds into the second round. He threw a right hook to knock down Palaszewski, and then finished him off with strikes. After the fight was called, Njokuani celebrated with a backflip and some breakdancing. 

Njokuani  almost had the same result earlier in the fight with a huge knockdown punch followed by some ground and pound, but it couldn’t finish Palaszewski. Njokuani controlled much of the fight, though Palaszewski did manage a takedown to end the first round.

This is Palaszewski’s second loss in just over a month, as he lost to Ricardo Lamas on Mar. 1. Palaszewski was a late replacement for Anthony Pettis, while Njokuani takes his record to 1-1 in the WEC. He only has one other loss outside the WEC, and that is to lightweight WEC standout, Donald Cerrone. 

Dominick Cruz wins fight with weird ending

With the fight ending in an accidental foul, Dominick Cruz won a unanimous decision 30-27, 29-28. In an exchange in the third period, Cruz landed a seemingly light knee on Lopez when he was down on both knees. Lopez fell to the ground, and clutched his face. Lopez said that he could not continue the fight. 

Before the knee, Cruz was in control. He landed several strikes over the course of the fight, and took Lopez down at will. Every time it looked like Lopez could get up and work his stand-up game, Cruz took him down to the ground, and had his way with him. At the end of the second round, Cruz not only took Lopez down, but landed some punches and elbows while on the ground as the bell rang.

Fabiano wins surprising fight between jiu-jitsu experts

In a battle of two of the best jiu-jitsu fighter in their weight class, if not the world,  Wagnney Fabiano and Fredson Paixao spent much of their fight engaged in a stand-up battle. Fabiano won with a 30-27 unanimous decision. 

Fabiano started the fight off with a perfect kick to Paixao’s temple, and continued to deliver kicks and blows throughout the first round. In the second round, the two fighters were more tenuous until Fabiano finally took the fight to the ground with less than two minutes to go in the round. After not getting much done there, he stood up and continued to deliver kicks, including a baseball-bat like blow to Paixao to end the round.

Paixao desperately wanted the fight to be on the ground, but seemed unwilling to take Fabiano down. Several times, when Fabiano took Paixao to the ground and Fabiano stood up, Paixao stayed on the ground. It didn’t work, and the ref stood up Paixao every time. 

Rani gets his Yahyas with a fast submission

In the first quick fight of WEC 40, Rani Yahya won quickly with a rear naked choke over former bantamweight champion, Eddie Wineland. Yahya came out aggressive at the start, quickly taking Wineland’s back. Wineland worked up to his base, but couldn’t shake Yahya, tapping to end the fight early in the first round.

Wineland is from northwest Indiana, and as a fighter at Miguel Torres’ gym, he had a large contingent of fans at the UIC Pavilion. They were not happy about his loss, and this was the second loss that got the crowd booing. Tapia’s close decision loss also brought out the boo birds.

Tamura wins close decision over Tapia

Akitoshi Tamura won a stand-up battle with Manny Tapia, a 29-28 unanimous decision. The fight was about as even as a fight can get, as most of press row disagreed on the winner. 

Throughout most the fight, Akitoshi Tamura delivered a slew of devastating kicks to Tapia’s body, with considerable damage throughout the fight. The fight was completely a stand-up war, with Tapia favoring punches, and Tamura preferring kicks and knees. Tapia hung in, throwing punch after punch, and ending with a flurry of punches, but in the end, Tamura’s kicks won over Tapia’s knees.

Manny Tapia, with his hair dyed like the Mexican flag, had a raucous Chicago crowd behind him, many yelling cheers in Spanish. The crowd was not pleased with the decision.

Dias outlast Budnik to start WEC 40

In a fight that showed off not only a bevy of jiu-jitsu skills, but a smart crowd in Chicago that recognized when fighters would hit side control, and advance in position, Rafael Dias won by unanimous decision in a three-round bout.

Dias started every round with a takedown. He escaped several submission attempts by Budnik, including a heel hook early on and an arm bar later in the fight. Budnik also outlasted a Dias guillotine to end the first round.

This fight was fought at a catchweight, as Budnik did not make weight. Budnik surrendered 20 percent of his purse to Dias for not making weight.

WEC 40 results and LIVE fight coverage TONIGHT (April 5)!

WEC 40: “Torres vs. Mizugaki” — the promotion’s first trip to the “Windy City” — will take place tonight (April 5) live from the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois. The main card will air live on the Versus network, beginning at 9 p.m. ET.

Featured in the main event of the evening will be 135-pound champion and Chicago-area native, Miguel Torres, defending his world title for the third time in the WEC cage against Japanese newcomer, Takeya Mizugaki.

As always, MMAmania.com will provide detailed coverage of the main card bouts, beginning with the 9 p.m. ET telecast on Versus. In addition, we will deliver up-to-the-minute quick results of the under card action at around 7:00 p.m. ET.

Many of our readers check-in before, during and after the Versus telecast to share their thoughts on the action. Therefore, feel free to leave a comment or 10 before you leave and chat with many of our readers during the show — it always turns out to be a great discussion.

Keep in mind that we will also be the spot for the latest news, recaps and post-fight analysis after WEC 40.

Without further delay, see below for the latest WEC 40 results. (Note: This will go from the bottom up; therefore, scroll toward the bottom for the latest fight updates!)

WEC 40 QUICK RESULTS:

WEC Bantamweight Champion Miguel Torres defeats Takeya Mizugaki via unanimous decision
Joseph Benavidez defeats Jeff Curran via unanimous decision
Ben “Smooth” Henderson defeats Shane Roller via technical knockout (strikes) at 1:41 of round one
Raphael Assuncao defeats Jameel “The Sergeant” Massouh via unanimous decision
Anthony Njokuani defeats Bart “Bartimus” Palaszewski via technical knockout (strikes) at 0:27 of round two
Dominick Cruz defeats Ivan Lopez via unanimous decision
Wagnney Fabiano defeats Fredson Paixao via unanimous decision
Rani Yahya defeats Eddie Wineland via submission (rear naked choke) at 1:07 of round one
Akitoshi “Ironman” Tamura defeats Manny “The Mangler” Tapia via unanimous decision
Rafael Dias defeats Mike Budnik via unanimous decision

WEC 40 MAIN CARD FIGHT COVERAGE:

WEC Bantamweight Champion Miguel Torres (35-1) vs. Takeya Mizugaki (11-2-2)

Fight recap:

Round 1: Mizugaki came out stalking the champ and landed some nice shots before Torres answered with hard left hook, right hand combo. Torres started working the jab more, but Mizugaki stayed very aggressive with hard, power shots and continued to win the exchanges. Torres locked the challenger in a Muay Thai clinch and started working the knees, but Mizugaki slammed him hard to the mat to break the clinch. Torres bounced right back up and started landing a few more punches of his own. Mizugaki again came forward right at Torres, pushing him against the cage and initiating a momentary clinch. After separating, Torres took the center of the cage and started working some kicks along with more punching combinations. An extremely tough Mizugaki, however, never seemed to let up. He ended the round with another hard flurry, and clearly stole the first frame from the hometown champion. Looks like we have a fight on our hands here.

Round 2: More back pedaling from Torres to start the round. Mizugaki continues to stalk him. Torres fired with a big flurry, but fell to his back because he was backing up. Mizugaki let him right back up and after a a few seconds Torres fired with another flurry. Mizugaki was forced to clinch for a second, but punched out. The two fighters continued to go toe to toe in the center of the cage for a while longer before Torres looked to have Mizugaki wobbly a few times. Torres again initiated a Thai clinch and he pushed the challenger against the cage, landing knees and strikes. After separating, Torres lost his mouth piece and the action was stopped for a second for him to put it back in. After restarting, Torres again grabbed the Japanese fighter in a clinch and closed out the round landing more knees and strikes. Much closer round than the first. Through two, it’s probably one to one.

Round 3: Torres worked the leg kicks to start the round, and continued to try and avoid Mizugaki’s power combos. Another clinch from the champ allows him to do a little bit more damage with some knees. After separating, Torres started really stalking the challenger, who looked to be wearing down. A cut on the champ’s forehead led to a small break in the action while the cageside doctors examined the situation. After getting the okay, Torres continued to stalk and wear down the challenger. Like a machine, the champ just kept coming forward, but Mizugaki held his ground and kept inflicting damage of his own on Torres as well. The round came to an end with Mizugaki missing on a wild punch attempt and Torres staring him down as he walked back to his corner. That was another close round for the champ.

Round 4: The challenger came out stalking in round four, landing more hard strikes on the champion. Torres shot for a takedown, but ended up pulling guard. However, he couldn’t hold onto the slippery Mizugaki, and the Japanese fighter easily got back to his feet, much to the delight of his corner. Torres went back to the clinch on the feet, landing more knees, punches and elbows from there. Mizugaki attempted some knees of his own, but seemed to be wearing down, while the champ was gaining momentum and energy. Torres continued to pin Mizugaki against the cage and eventually tried a submission attempt which led to them separating. They stood toe to toe from there to close out the round with Mizugaki eating some hard kicks and punches. Torres probably won that round too and at this point should be ahead by a decent margin even though this is a very competitive fight.

Round 5: A bloody champion comes out for round five and both guys look to have found some extra energy. After a brief clinch Torres backed the challenger against the cage and land a nasty combination of punches. Somehow the Japanese fighter took the punishment and stayed on his feet. In the clinch, Torres worked more punches, knees and elbows before Mizugaki pushed out. Torres slipped to the mat momentarily after trying a wild kick. More big exchanges followed, and they went right back to the clinch with Mizugaki’s back against the fence. Mizugaki pushes out again and Torres tries to pull guard unsuccessfully. Nice body shot, head shot combinations led to another tie up with Mizugaki eating strikes. With about thirty seconds to go, Mizugaki urged Torres to exchange with him and the champ abliged, bringing a great main event fight to an end. Mizugaki made a name for himself tonight taking Torres the distance, but the champ will retain his title in this one.

Final result: WEC Bantamweight Champion Miguel Torres defeats Takeya Mizugaki via unanimous decision

-end-

Jeff Curran (29-10-1) vs. Joseph Benavidez (9-0)

Fight recap:

Round 1: The fighters exchanged leg kicks and punches early on, with both landing some hard shots and missing on others. After a brief clinch they separate with a Jeff Curran left hook. Benavidez answers a few seconds later with a hard uppercut, but Curran just shrugged it off. Curran landed a big right hand while Benavidez was attempting some kick of jumping move. Benavidez went right to the clinch and recovered from the punch from there. After a lull, Curran swings and misses on huges punch and momentarily slips. Back to the center of the cage, and Benavidez lands a nasty uppercut. Not long after, Benavidez exploded with another damaging flurry and Curran ended up on his back. Benavidez took the top position and worked some ground and pound before standing up and landing kicks to a grounded Curran’s legs to end the round. Close round. The action at the end from Benavidez certainly may have swayed the judges towards giving him that round. But again, real close.

Round 2: Curran took the center of the cage to start round two. Benavidez missed a couple times with some kicks before eating a few from Curran and momentarily getting shoved to the mat. After a nice exchange in the center of the cage, Benavidez ended up getting a takedown and landing in Curran’s full guard. Benavidez worked more ground and pound from there, but Curran was able to get back to his feet when Benavidez tried to stand. Back on their feet and there’s an exchange. Benavidez shot for a takedown, but Curran ended up pulling guard looking for a guillotine. Benavidez escaped the choke as well as a few other submission attempts before attempting a guillotine of his own. Curran escaped pretty easily and the round ended similarly to round one with Benavidez on top working the ground and pound. Another close round. Benavidez’s round probably.

Round 3: Nice combinations and exchanges from both fighters to start round three of a very close fight. Benavidez got his leg trapped on a body kick attempt and tried a spinning back fist only to eat a high kick from Curran in a nice exchange. After some more circling and kick boxing, Benavidez shot for and got another takedown. He worked the ground and pound from there with Curran against the fence for a few seconds before Curran was able to work back to his feet. Curran took the center of the cage again, but was still eating punches and kicks from Benavidez. Curran then shot in for a takedown of his own, picking Benavidez up and slamming him to the mat. Benavidez right away got back to his feet and got another takedown of his own landing on top of Curran. More ground and pound followed from there. Curran tried to secure a couple late submissions, but was unsuccessful. The final bell came with Benavidez landing more ground and pound. Another close round in a very close fight. I give the edge to Benavidez though. He had an answer for everything Curran did. He scored more takedowns, and he won a lot of the stand up exchanges.

Final result: Joseph Benavidez defeats Jeff Curran via unanimous decision

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Shane Roller (5-1) vs. Ben “Smooth” Henderson (8-1)

Fight recap:

Round 1: Henderson took the center of the cage and started stalking Roller right away with jabs and kicks. After dodging a few of those strikes, Roller exploded with a combination that put Henderson on his butt. Roller pounced and locked in his signature guillotine choke, but somehow Henderson escaped and got back to his feet. After a clinch Smooth came with a flurry of hard, quick strikes that hurt Roller and put him on his ass this time. Henderson wasted no time trying to finish and it wasn’t long before the referee was forced to call a stop to the onslaught. A very impressive turnaround win for Ben Henderson.

Final result: Ben “Smooth” Henderson defeats Shane Roller via technical knockout (strikes) at 1:41 of round one

-end-

Raphael Assuncao (12-1) vs. Jameel “The Sergeant” Massouh (20-4)

Fight recap:

Round 1: After a feeling out process Massouh appeared to land a big left hand that floored Assuncao, but after seeing the replay Assuncao just slipped on the mat. He got back to his feet and ended up dropping Massouh with a big right hand of his own. Assuncao worked the ground and pound from the top position for a while, standing and dropping big bombs to a grounded Massouh numerous times. After a scramble from Massouh, they got back to their feet and exchanged some leg kicks. More right hands and leg kicks followed from Assuncao. A hard right hand put Massouh on the mat with about 20 seconds left and the round ended with Assuncao locking in a guillotine choke, but Massouh was saved by the bell. Definitely Assuncao’s round.

Round 2: More big punches from Assuncao to start the round. Massouh countered with a hard body kick, but he was having a hard time keeping up with Massouh on the feet. More big combos came from Assuncao, followed by a nice methodical takedown. Once on the mat, he attempted another guillotine submission from the north south choke, but Massouh defended and escaped and worked back to his feet. After a brief clinch they separated and Assuncao landed a hard leg kick that wobbled Massouh. Again Assuncao landed a nasty leg kick, this time backing it up with a hard overhand right. Massouh tried to answer with a high kick, but ended up on his back with Assuncao on top of him. More hard ground and pound from Assuncao brought the round to an end. Another clear cut round for Assuncao.

Round 3: Assuncao came out for round three and attempted a high kick, but had it blocked by the much taller Massouh. He continued to work the leg kicks, mixing him more hard right hand, left hand combos. Assuncao eventually took the tired and battered Massouh to the mat, landing him half guard. He quickly took a full mount. After giving up his back momentarily, Massouh reversed to take the top position. From there he worked some nice ground and pound for a few seconds before Assuncao scrambled back to his feet. Immediately Assuncao put his opponent back on the mat, again landing in half guard. He worked some elbows and strikes from there. For a second Massouh gave up his back and it looked like Assuncao might get the finish, but a resilient Massouh fought his way back to his feet and made the final bell. Another round for Assuncao, who will definitely win this decision.

Final result: Raphael Assuncao defeats Jameel “The Sergeant” Massouh via unanimous decision

-end-

Donald Cerrone vs Rich Crunkilton WEC 41 fight in the works

With WEC Lightweight Champion Jamie Varner on the mend, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone (9-1) will keep busy rather than await an immediate rematch, agreeing to take on Rich “Cleat” Crunkilton (16-2) at WEC 41, which is slated for the Arco Arena in Sacramento, Calif., on June 7, according to a report on MMAWeekly.com.

“Cowboy” dropped a hard-fought split decision to Varner back in January at WEC 38. The match ended in odd fashion when the champ was struck with an illegal kick midway through the fifth and final round. Because “C-4″ was unable to continue, the fight went to the scorecards and Cerrone lost by the slimmest of margins.

Featured on season two of the reality series “Tapout,” Cerrone is a very popular fighter. He provides some serious problems for his opponents, too. He’s long, athletic and extremely well rounded. Despite having an extensive background in Muay Thai, he finishes most of his foes by submission.

“Cleat” was stopped a minute and 30 seconds into the first round by strikes from “Razor” Rob McCullough in September of 2007 at WEC 30 in his shot at gold. He’s only fought once since then, defeating Sergio Gomez by unanimous decision at WEC 33.

The American Kickboxing Academy product was slated to face International Fight League standout Bart Palaszewski in a rumored number one contender eliminator bout, but he was forced off the card after suffering an injury in preparation.

Cage rust could certainly be an obstacle for Crunkilton in this fight. By the time June 7 rolls around it will have been nearly 16 months since he last saw action … and it will be only his fourth match in more than a three-year span. Still, he’s a veteran fighter with 18 fights and almost a decade worth of professional fight experience to his credit.

It shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

Both guys will clearly be looking to get back into title contention with a win here. Cowboy just hopes Crunkilton doesn’t pull out of this fight like he’s done in the past. Earlier this week he spoke about the match up.

Here’s a snip:

“I’m gonna to put the spurs to Cleat, if he bothers to show up for this one.”

WEC 41 will feature a rematch between Mike Thomas Brown and Urijah “The California Kid” Faber in a featherweight championship bout with Brown’s title on the line. Cerrone’s teammate from the Greg Jackson camp, Leonard “Bad Boy” Garcia, is also expected to be in action in Sacramento on June 7.

Stay tuned to MMAmania.com for more on the developing fight card.

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